Lisle, Illinois~ By the time Tyler Zachary graduates, his resume will already be filled with remarkable achievements.

Zachary, a junior Finance major at Benedictine University and the son of William and Joanne Zachary of Ottawa (Ill.), was recently awarded an internship through J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Finance Analyst Development Program.

"I am very excited about this opportunity," Zachary said. "The internship will teach me things you cannot learn in a classroom. The classroom can give you the knowledge and the tools you need, but it cannot teach you what it's like in the real world."

Chase's Finance Analyst Development Program is open to sophomores and juniors in college who are highly motivated, demonstrate strong leadership and analytical qualities, have the proven ability to synthesize information and reach logical conclusions, can collaborate in a fast-paced environment, who are working toward a bachelor of science or bachelor of arts degree, and who have a minimum 3.5 GPA.

"It is amazing how competitive this program has become," said J.P. Morgan Chase's Mike Berezewski, a Finance Manager who graduated from Benedictine University with a bachelor's degree in Finance and has been with Chase for 11 years. "We received a large number of resumesfrom different universities and the Benedictine candidates stack up pretty well."

Internship candidates are screened first through phone interviews and later through lengthy personal interviews at the bank's headquarters.

"The personal interviews must have lasted four hours," Zachary said. "It was meet, meet, meet."

The internship program is designed to help students develop their skills and positively impact lines of corporate or business areas through meaningful assignments, training, coaching and learning from peers and colleagues; interact with management and participate in networking activities; work closely with executive mentors; and have the opportunity for full-time employment.

"Chase does very little hiring for financial analysts from outside the program," Zachary said. "They only take as many interns as they have jobs."

Interning downtown will be nothing new for Zachary, who spent last summer working in the office of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

"I wrote a letter to Sen. Durbin while I was in high school telling him about my interest in government and asking him about an internship opportunity," Zachary said. "I learned a lot about how government works."

Zachary also has ready-made accommodations. The walk from where he will live to Chase's headquarters will be just a few blocks.

"My sister lives downtown," he said. "She was an International Business and Economics major who graduated from Benedictine in 2002 and earned an M.B.A. in 2004. She works for BP. She loves walking to work."

And apparently, she does not mind having a roommate for the summer, either.

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Benedictine University is an independent Roman Catholic institution located in Lisle, Illinois just 25 miles west of Chicago. Founded in 1887, Benedictine provides 53 undergraduate majors, 13 graduate and four doctorate programs. Benedictine University is ranked as a Top School in the Midwest (11th in Illinois) for Master's Universities, 12th in the Midwest (and sixth in Illinois) for Racial Diversity, and eighth in Illinois for Freshmen Retention for 2011 by U.S. News & World Report.